Big fans of the show Portlandia will tell you that Portland is indeed, weird. We’ve heard this for years, but this weekend we were on the mission to find out why. Thankfully, the Nomading Film Festival held it’s Winter Recess in the city of eirdness-way and gave us the perfect opportunity to do some investigating. ...

Big fans of the show Portlandia will tell you that Portland is indeed, weird. We’ve heard this for years, but this weekend we were on the mission to find out why. Thankfully, the Nomading Film Festival held it’s Winter Recess in the city of eirdness-way and gave us the perfect opportunity to do some investigating.

With the help of our friend and fellow travel blogger Cailin O’Neil from Travel Yourself, we searched high and low, ingesting copious amounts of Voodoo Donuts, to find exactly what it is that sets Portland apart from other big cities in the Pacific Northwest.

Take a look at our Portland video below.

So what are the must-do’s while in Portland?

You absolutely have to make a stop at Voodoo Donut. There are three independent locations in Portland and it’s likely that there will be a long line. Are you vegan? No problem! There are an assortment of donuts to fit your dietary needs. Our suggestions? Try the bacon maple bar and the grape ape. You will not be disappointed.

In the mood for cultural diversity? Spend a few hours touring the Lan Su Chinese gardens. You can sit down, relax, and enjoy some green tea. Our favorite part was the “covered walk to celestial hall of permeating fragrance”. Not sure what it was that we were smelling, but it sure was good.

Whether you enjoy reading or not, Powell’s bookstore will keep everyone in the family entertained. At three stories high, one can find books about everything from shaved puppies to signed copies of “Honey Badger Don’t Care”. There’s even a coffee shop inside with delicious coffee and yummy treats.

What will we do differently next time?

We were only in town for a few days so we didn’t really have the chance to fully partake in Portland’s food truck community. They had all types of trucks ranging from those specializing in Mexican food to Middle Eastern delights. You can bet your bottom burrito that we’ll be there next time!

Have you been to Portland? What do you think makes it so great? Help a few travel videographers out and feel free to let us know in the comment section below.

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Captain and Clark are two passionate story tellers and explorers. They are driven by an internal fire to plunge into the deepest and most alluring corners and nooks of our globe and bring to light the stories that inspire all of us.

Bahaha whatever! Your Portland videos rocked, as always! You were even to make multiple videos. We just compiled ours into one. Looking forward to all of your Seattle posts. Hoping to see you in your home country soon 🙂

Great video guys – made me laugh but also reminded me how much I loved Portland. Um, how the hell did I miss Voodoo Donut though?? Probably spent too much time in Powells 😉 There is apparently a great vintage clothing store housed in a bus (only in Portland, right?) It was closed when I was there. Would’ve loved to have had a bit of look!http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/01/bus-stop-lodekka-dress-shop/

You HAVE to go back and try Voodoo Donuts. They are SO good, but we could barely finish them. They’re definitely sweet. We’re going to have to check out this vintage clothing bus as soon as we go back. We love those kinds of quirky things! We also want to try their ubiquitous food trucks. I’m hungry just thinking about them.

Portland rocks! I sure hope you are taking advantage of the unreasonable number of microbreweries! What, like 30-plus?? Did anyone try the Texas Challenge at VooDoo? Free if you can choke it down in 80 seconds or less.

Eeek… I hate to break it to you, but I don’t think you’ve actually seen Portland yet 🙂 Definitely make it a priority when you come back to the States. Until then, continue your awesome South American adventures.

Nice little write up and really high quality video! So good to meet you guys at he NoFF. Still dialing in my new project, but planning to go live by the end of the month. Hopefully we can catch up on the road somewhere sometime. Keep up the good work:)

It was great to meet you Bryon! We look forward to following you on your adventures. Let us know when your site it up and running. We’d love to have you guest blog in the future. Hopefully see you this summer at NoFF 2.0

[…] is definitely one of our favorites. A close second would be the house sitter one with Aubrey Plaza. Portland is such a fun and unique city and Portlandia does a really great job of highlighting its […]